Chief Technology Officer

Christchurch, New Zealand Global Technology Leadership Opportunity - Tourism Software Sector
 
About Tourplan Tourplan is a global technology leader in the travel software sector, providing world‑class solutions for tour operators and destination management companies (DMCs). Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Christchurch, we support 450 clients across 70 countries, with local experts in 5 global offices delivering outstanding customer services worldwide.
 
Tourplan's browser‑based platform powers every aspect of our clients' businesses — from tour creation and pricing through to bookings, operations, accounting, and online distribution. With flexibility across SaaS (Azure‑hosted) and on‑premise deployments, Tourplan is recognised for its robust functionality, deep customisation, and innovation.
Tourplan's ambitious growth plans include further international market expansion, integrating AI into our products and services, scaling our connectivity and distribution solutions, while strengthening our infrastructure and security maturity.
 
The Opportunity - Chief Technology Officer (CTO) The CTO is a key member of our Christchurch‑based executive leadership team, reporting to the CEO. This is a pivotal role responsible for shaping and executing Tourplan's global technology strategy to deliver on our growth ambitions.
 
The CTO will lead a talented team spanning product development, infrastructure and security, ensuring Tourplan's technology and products remain innovative, secure, scalable, and customer‑centric. This will involve close collaboration with colleagues across sales, customer experience, finance, and regional offices worldwide.
Key Focus Areas

• Technology Strategy & Leadership - Drive the vision and execution of Tourplan's technology roadmap, aligning with business growth and client needs.
• Product Innovation - Oversee end‑to‑end software development lifecycle, ensuring timely, high‑quality delivery of our products in alignment with overall company strategy and business goals.
• Infrastructure & Security - Strengthen and modernise our Azure‑based infrastructure (400+ servers globally), enhancing resilience, security, compliance and scalability.
• R&D & Emerging Tech - Evaluate and leverage emerging technologies to ensure Tourplan maintains industry leadership and a sustainable competitive edge.
• Strategic Partnerships - Forge and maintain strategic partnerships with technology vendors and related 3rd parties. Use these collaborations to lead the adoption of new solutions and the exploration of new business opportunities.
• Executive Leadership & Collaboration - Partner with the CEO, board and global stakeholders to translate complex technical issues into actionable business insights and outcomes.

• Significant senior leadership experience in technology, ideally as a CTO, CIO, VP Engineering, or equivalent.
• Strong background in infrastructure, cloud hosting (Azure preferred), cybersecurity and compliance.
• Expertise in SaaS product development (Microsoft stack: C#, .NET Core, Angular, SQL, APIs; exposure to Java beneficial).
• Demonstrated success leading large‑scale technology projects, digital transformation initiatives, or product modernisation.
• Commercial acumen and the ability to balance client demands, product cadence, and long‑term strategy.
• Inclusive, collaborative leadership style with the ability to develop, inspire and scale high‑performing teams.
• Experience in travel technology or SaaS/software industries is an advantage (though not essential).

• Lead a global software company with local roots in Christchurch, shaping its next chapter of international growth.
• Opportunity to drive technology innovation in the fast‑growing global tourism sector.
• Work alongside a talented, loyal, multicultural team with deep industry expertise and a collaborative culture.
• Competitive six‑figure salary package, with flexibility and long‑term career scope.